The present invention is generally related to the field of on-line publishing and, more particularly, is related to a system and method for generating a profile from which a publication may be created.
In the mid 1400""s, Johann Gutenberg revolutionized how information is disseminated through his invention of the movable type press. With the publication of the Mazarin Bible, documents that were once held in the exclusive domain of a chosen few were now widely available to the masses. Nearly 550 years later, the mass media revolution that Gutenburg started is alive and well, complete with newspapers such as the New York Times and the Washington Post, magazines such as Newsweek and Sports Illustrated, and literally thousands upon thousands of other publications.
While these thousands of publications cover a wide range of interests, from news to sports to fashion to model rocketry, they do have one aspect in common. This common aspect is the fact that they are intended to be read by a mass market. In the pre-Gutenberg days, a document would literally be read by only one person or a very small number of people. Currently, it is not economically viable for today""s publications to have such a small readership. This is due at least in part to high marketing, production and distribution costs. In fact, many of today""s publications are funded to a very large extent by the advertising contained within them. These advertisers are attracted to publications that can consistently deliver a large, reliable audience of consumers that are exposed to their advertising.
While this mass-market publication model has worked well for hundreds of years, it is not without its problems. One such problem is that a typical reader of a publication has a wide variety of interests. Consequently, no single mass-market publication will be able to satisfy all these interests. For example, a reader who is interested in international news, golf, fly-fishing, genealogy, and computers may have to subscribe to several different publications to satisfy these interests. Since these publications are intended for a mass market, they inevitably contain a significant amount of material including articles, advertising, and other content that does not hold our reader""s interest. Our reader generally ignores such material resulting in a significant amount of wasted paper. Advertisers know this, and agree to pay considerably less to mass market magazine or newspaper per 1000 exposures to their ad than they would pay to a direct-mail generator. This is because the direct-mail generator can provide a more specific guarantee that the people exposed to their ad are of demographic group that will be much more likely to read their ad and be interested in it.
In addition, it is neither cost-effective nor time effective for most readers to subscribe to and/or read a large number of publications. Generally, the typical reader will only subscribe to a few publications that are of the most interest to them. The reader reduced readership level of the publications our typical reader chooses not to subscribe to, even though he would be interested in at least some of the editorial and advertising content contained inside, means that the publication receives less subscription and advertising revenue than they otherwise would. If many other readers make the same decision, the continued viability of the publication may be in jeopardy, and the publication may be forced to go out of business. In fact, many publications do go out of business yearly for failing to attract a sustaining number of advertisers and readers. This is the case even if there are a large number of readers that would be interested in reading their publication, and a corresponding number of advertisers anxious to have these readers exposed to their ads. In general, publications that fail to attract a substantial mass market of people willing to pay for and/or read them cease publication. This is a shame, since many of these publications would enrich the diversity of information available to all readers, and would provide an avenue for lesser known writers and artists to practice their wares.
In more recent years, a new type of publication has emerged, namely, the electronic publication. Readers of these publications typically sign onto the Internet through their computer, and read the publications on-line. Some of these publications, such as CNN.com and pointcast.com, allow users to state personal preferences on what type of material they want to read. Often, these personalized electronic publications include advertising, usually in the form of a banner ad that is placed on the top of the screen.
While these electronic publications have been an interesting development in the distribution of information, they still represent a tiny fraction of the information that is published under the more traditional post-Gutenburg model. Many readers of these electronic publications complain that they are very difficult to read, especially for long periods of time. While it might be convenient for a reader to sign onto the Internet to look at the CNN.com web site for a brief summary of late breaking news, this reader would most likely only spend a few minutes at the site. This reader is also still likely to subscribe to the more traditional print media such as Newsweek or the Washington Post. Additionally, this reader also would likely spend significantly more time reading the more traditional printed publication than an electronic publication, and correspondingly, spend more time being exposed to the ads in the traditional printed publication. Accordingly, printed publications continue to flourish today more than five centuries after Gutenberg made them possible.
In addition, another problem presents itself for electronic publications. For a given interest of a particular reader, there may be potentially thousands of related articles, advertisements, and other content items. The average reader is simply not going to be able to read all of the potential content items that hold their interest on a daily basis. Therefor, it is necessary to create a filter that is used to narrow the potential content items to a select few that are presented to the reader. Such a filter is usually relatively extensive so as to ensure that the total number of potential content items can be effectively narrowed down to the select few that are presented to the reader. To create such a filter, the reader may fill out a questionnaire, for example, as to their particular interests, etc. Unfortunately, due to the significant amount of limiting information needed for an effective filter, it may take a rather long time for the reader to accomplish this task. Unfortunately, the reader may lose patience with the process, resulting in a failure to complete the filter or in an inaccurate filter.
In light of the foregoing, the present invention provides for a system and method for generating a personal profile. In one embodiment, the system includes a processor circuit having at least one processor and at least one memory. The system also includes profile building logic stored on the at least one memory and executable by the at least one processor. The profile building logic includes logic to identify a role model profile in a profile database, logic to copy the role model profile into a client profile, and logic to save the client profile in the profile database. The role model profile includes a number of parameters to be consulted to generate an on-line publication.
Broadly stated, the method for generating a personal profile according to the present invention includes the following steps: identifying a role model profile in a profile database, the role model profile including a number of parameters to be consulted to generate an on-line publication; copying the role model profile into a client profile; and saving the client profile in the profile database.
The present invention provides several advantages. For example, the task of creating a personal profile from which a personal on-line publication may be generated is greatly simplified. Consequently, the amount of time necessary to generate a personal profile is greatly reduced.